Saffire Blog

InstaChanges & Upgrades

Have you been overwhelmed with Millennial Marketing Trends and Statistics? Well, let’s talk about Generation Z (aka Post-Millennials, iGens or Plurals). Generation Z is shifting away from Facebook at an alarming rate! Generation Z says, “I can’t be myself on Facebook because it is full of MOMS…that’s why I like to use Instagram and … Continue reading “InstaChanges & Upgrades”

Instagram has 400 million worldwide users. There have been over 40 billion photos shared at a rate of 80 million per day and with an average 3.5 billion daily “likes.”

So now what are marketers going to do? How can we be on so many platforms and still not reach who we need to?

Well, Facebook has had you covered since 2012. Facebook saw the trends and heard the feedback and knew they needed to do something drastic. In April of 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 Billion, which many thought was a bad move for a product with no business model. However, after years of growing Instagram, Facebook has integrated their advertising platform into the app. This allows marketers to catch the “Moms”, Generation Z, Millennials and Boomers, all in one integrated platform!

To get setup, all you need to do is go into your Facebook settings and connect your Instagram account so that the ads can be pushed over to the app.

Then you will create your Facebook ad as usual, except you’ll also need to select Instagram Ads… it’s THAT easy!

For those of you that fully utilize Instagram already, a common complaint has been that you cannot switch between your personal Instagram account and your Business Account, requiring you to sign in and out every time. However, now Instagram lets users switch between several different accounts within the app. You can even switch between FIVE different accounts!

With these new changes, expect the number of Instagram users and accounts to continue to climb.

Fall in Love with these Great Apps!

You know you’ve found a good app when all you want to do is share it with people! Here at Saffire, we make it our business to discover, research, test and promote apps that we think are going to improve all aspects of your life! Since social communication is constantly increasing, we want to make … Continue reading “Fall in Love with these Great Apps!”

You know you’ve found a good app when all you want to do is share it with people! Here at Saffire, we make it our business to discover, research, test and promote apps that we think are going to improve all aspects of your life! Since social communication is constantly increasing, we want to make sure that our readers are ahead of the curve. Check out these 5 apps that we think are worth your time!

Periscope

Ever wonder what it’s like to be front-row at a ZZ Top concert? Maybe you want to know how it feels like to sit inside a coffee shop in Berlin. Maybe you just want to share your grocery shopping experience with your kids! Periscope is a fun solution and showcases live-streaming videos from around the world! Not only is this a fun app to use in your free time, but it’s also another social tool to promote your event, venue or destination! Periscope allows you to broadcast your organization’s voice across the globe. Some great ways to promote your event through Periscope is by interviewing a performer or important figure in the community. You can also make major announcements like a concert lineup or even offer a special promotion. Also, anything you film on Periscope can be saved and then reused on other social media channels!

Circle Back

Have your contacts gotten out of control? Don’t wait for spring cleaning to get organized! Circle Back allows you to clean up your contacts from your phone, Gmail, Microsoft Exchange, Facebook and LinkedIn. It also SCANS business cards for an easier way to add contacts! Consider it the “address book replacement” that keeps you up-to-date

LinkedIn Pulse

Speaking of LinkedIn, you can create a custom newsfeed of your professional network with LinkedIn Pulse. Pulse instantly gives you news based on the people you’re connected to, what you follow and what industry you’re in. This app is able to quickly display content that is relevant to you. We recommend this app in the morning with your first cup of coffee!

LinkedIn Pulse

Photofy

Is your designer out of town or are you a designer looking for something easier to use? Photofy is a free photo editing app that allows you to add art and color overlays to your photos including 90+ fonts, 39,000 graphic elements and 30+ filters. The photo editing capabilities are almost equivalent to Photoshop, but made easy by immediately posting to your social media channels! This tool will come in handy when you don’t have access to your office or you’re out snapping pics and need to post them ASAP!

Photofy

Hey Lets

Ever found yourself bored without weekend plans? Eager to do something, but not sure what? Or maybe you have guests in town and you want to be sure to give the best suggestions for food and entertainment. Hey Lets is your answer! It’s an app that provides you with people’s experiences so you can enjoy a personalized feed of food, nightlife, shows, outdoor activities, travel tips and more. You can browse trending, recommended experiences and adventures enjoyed by community members you follow.

Hey Lets!

Snapchatting your Events!

Chances are you’ve seen a Snapchat photo or “snap,” with their recognizable scrawled drawings announcing everything from the silly to the promotional. While it started as an easy way to electronically send the kind of messages one would want quickly erased, Snapchat has now become a tool for savvy event marketers. With Instagram, Facebook and … Continue reading “Snapchatting your Events!”

With Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, what does Snapchat offer that existing platforms don’t? First of all, the limited nature of the content means that only those who engage with your Snapchat immediately have access to your snaps, and only for a period up to 10 seconds.

So…how does that help marketing?

Particularly for event purposes, Snapchat’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it platform provides exciting opportunities for users to generate event-specific promotional tools and original content. The Association of Surfing Professionals utilize Snapchat to engage with their audience through snaps of real-time updates of surfing contests and will even have surfing professionals send through “autographed” selfies to fans.

Snapchat’s format also allows for real-time updates to event attendees and participants – imagine being able to let visitors know a special event will be starting soon, or about a last-minute change of venue without having to draft an email. Coordination with vendors can also lead to short-term special deals (10% off funnel cakes? Be right there!). Allowing celebrities or important figures to “take over” your account can further increase your reach, and allow attendees to feel like they are intimately connected with them, all thanks to your brand! The benefits of using Snapchat year-round can keep people talking about your event all year.

Like any social media site, it’s important that your selected username makes sense related to your organization – this isn’t your personal account. It’s meant to relate specifically to your organization or event needs. As a general note, it’s always a good idea to have synchronicity between your social media usernames to help with audience loyalty and engagement.

With Snapchat, you typically have to select users to send your snaps to, so it’s absolutely essential that settings are set to display content to “everyone,” so that you never have to manually select your list (which hopefully becomes too long to look through!). This way you’ll be sure that you’re never limiting your audience (of course this does offer specialized promotion opportunities for those extra-special followers).

Be sure to let your followers on other social media sites know that you are now on Snapchat. It’s also a good idea to provide content that you don’t post elsewhere. This ensures that the audience feels like they are getting special treatment as a reward for following you.

While new social media platforms seem to be on the rise every day, Snapchat provides a great current option for event marketing, specifically in delivering premium and exclusive limited-time content to loyal followers. Start snapping those behind-the-scenes pics and get people ready for your next event today!

3 Lessons Any Organization Can Learn From Google

In the world of technology there are a handful of large companies that are always worth keeping an eye on as they shape, change and revolutionize the industry. Google is among the top of these organizations and in recent weeks they have made some bold moves to reorganize and rebrand. While it may seem easy … Continue reading “3 Lessons Any Organization Can Learn From Google”

In the world of technology there are a handful of large companies that are always worth keeping an eye on as they shape, change and revolutionize the industry. Google is among the top of these organizations and in recent weeks they have made some bold moves to reorganize and rebrand. While it may seem easy to dismiss the story’s relevance to your own organization, either because “they’re so huge” or “that’s not my industry,” there are some very valuable lessons that any organization could take away from Google’s restructure.

To summarize the basics of the changes at Google, they have created an Umbrella company, called Alphabet, which will oversee a collection of smaller companies that were previously all housed under the Google name. By splitting up the smaller companies, “Google” is able to focus solely on the internet services we’ve come to rely on such as Search, Maps, YouTube, Android, Apps and Ads, while the other companies, with their own tiers of management, can focus their efforts on the multitude of other entities Google is involved in (i.e. smart cars, medical research, smart home products, etc.). In the weeks following the reorganization announcement Google also announced a refresh to their logo and branding guidelines.

There are 3 lessons we can all take from Google’s updates.

Back to Basics – Remember the core of your business and ensure you’re taking steps to maintain the well-being of your base offering. The separation of the fringe products & services into their own companies will streamline Google allowing the leaders of that organization to really focus on the heart of what made Google what it is today. Keep an eye on your primary goals and consider whether new off-shoot offerings are detracting from the success of what you do best. Find a balance where innovation doesn’t interfere with your organization’s consistency in maintaining your standards and what your customers have come to expect from you.
Always Evolve – Google didn’t get to where they are today by remaining static or sticking to the status quo. They are innovators who are consistently seeking ways to grow their offering. This is a process anyone can start within their own organization to think outside the box and consider, “what can I do differently to make my customer’s experience better?” As your service evolves, consider how your organization needs to evolve to accommodate that. We’ve spoken to several leaders in the events and venues industries for our own Amplifier podcast, and there has been a consistent theme among the most successful of them to always recognize the need for change and adapt to it.
Dare to Be Different – Beyond just making changes in your organization, consider the changes you can make that set you apart from others in your industry. Allow yourselves and your teams to try new ideas. Look to other industries for inspiration and explore how they “wow” their customers. Whether you’re looking to the tech industry to modernize your gate sales, or to architectural trends to improve crowd control, or to security professionals to enhance safety, there are opportunities being developed by experts in others industries that can be utilized to improve your own organization beyond what anyone else has yet to consider.

Facebook’s Power Editor Gets an Upgrade

Here at Saffire, we love using Facebook’s Power Editor! This tool is especially helpful when creating a large number of ads, like for an event or social media campaign. The Power Editor enables advertisers to save time by creating ads in bulk as well as mass-editing their ads and posts across all campaigns, accounts and … Continue reading “Facebook’s Power Editor Gets an Upgrade”

Here at Saffire, we love using Facebook’s Power Editor! This tool is especially helpful when creating a large number of ads, like for an event or social media campaign. The Power Editor enables advertisers to save time by creating ads in bulk as well as mass-editing their ads and posts across all campaigns, accounts and pages. This tool will save you time and allows you to be more accurate than Ads Manager.

If you currently use Power Editor, you might have already known that it recently got a MUCH needed update. It now has some brand new features as well as old ones that now appear in different places. Don’t panic! The Power Editor’s design has changed quite a bit, but still functions the same. You will be a pro in now time as you just play around with the Editor.

Side Navigation

Let’s talk about the changes made. The navigation items on are now on top, displayed for easy access. The new side navigation display icons represent the campaign, ad sets and ad groups. When you click any of these levels, you’ll get all of the information on the right-hand side. You’re no longer going to see a list of campaigns, ad sets and ads on the left; so it is important to use the filtering.

Editing

One of the biggest changes in the new Power Editor is that it now has more room to show lists of campaigns, ad sets and ads. You’ll no longer see a separator between the list and the editing pane. Whether you’re creating or editing a campaign, ad set or ad, the next view will look the same. If you want to edit a campaign, just click on the pencil image on the right. The editing pane will fly out from right to left and take over the majority of your screen. Once you’re done, just click on the pencil again and the editing pane will close. For you Saffire users, this is very similar to the way that we have editing set up!

Search

The Search feature at the top left-hand corner is used to filter the list by Campaign Name, Ad Set Name, Ad Name, Campaign ID, Ad Set ID, Ad ID or Tag. You can also use the Filters drop-down menu to narrow down the list. The filtering options are categorized in the dropdown menu. Once you click on any of the options, the selected filter will appear on the right (some filters will require you to choose a variable). This feature will come in handy if you have lots of ads.

Reporting

Power Editor also has a place for all of your saved reports. To get there, click on the Reporting link at the top of the page and you’ll be able to see your scheduled reports. The list will show sample reports from Facebook as well as the custom reports that you’ve created. It also lets you generate a report while viewing a filtered campaign list under Manage Ads.

Keep in mind that trying out the new version of Power Editor will not affect anyone else who currently works on your ad account. You also have the option switch back to the older version if you’re not comfortable. All you need to do to see the old version is click on the Help drop-down at the top right-hand corner and choose “Use older version of Power Editor.”

You’ve Got to Pin it to Win it!

Seriously Saffire, another Social Media site we have to maintain? Yes! With 70 million users and 28% of online US adults using the site, it is definitely worth pinning for a few minutes a day! Do you know what the fastest growing demographic on Pinterest is? Men! Currently, 79% of users are female with only … Continue reading “You’ve Got to Pin it to Win it!”

Seriously Saffire, another Social Media site we have to maintain? Yes! With 70 million users and 28% of online US adults using the site, it is definitely worth pinning for a few minutes a day!

Do you know what the fastest growing demographic on Pinterest is? Men! Currently, 79% of users are female with only 21% male. But when you consider that in 2014 the number of men using Pinterest doubled and there are now more men using the site than read Sports Illustrated and GQ combined, Pinterest is quickly breaking free of the stereotypical recipe and interior design rapport. Pinterest recently announced a change to its site’s search settings, which will now filter search results based on whether you’re interested in products for men or for women. By introducing these new search filters, Pinterest shows its devotion to diversifying its customer base.

In late 2013, Pinterest introduced one of its best features: Place Pins! If you are a destination marketing organization (DMO), Place Pins provides users with great, rich information about your destination in a map format. Place Pins allows for more context and information for travelers and requires minimal effort from a DMO. Below is an example from two different Pure Michigan’s boards which shows how much more interactive a destination post can be when placed on a map.

If you are planning an event, one of the best ways to get pinners involved is to easily collect photos from attendees! The Pinterest mobile app allows event attendees to pin photos from their mobile devices. At some point during the event, invite attendees to contribute to a collaborator board (i.e. a board named 25^th Annual Saffire Valley Rodeo) and you have a real-time, crowd-sourced photo album! To make it even more successful, you can even turn this board into a contest and give prizes to the pinner with the most repinned photos.

If your organization does not have a Pinterest yet and need help getting started, check out our tips on creating a successful Pinterest page: Click Here! Let us know what Pinterest strategies you use and what has been successful for your organization!

Canva comes to iPad

Saffire is always talking about Canva.com as being one of our favorite websites!. It comes as no surprise that this amazing tool has expanded into the world of Apple by releasing Canva for iPad this week! By realeasing the iPad app, Canva is on it’s way to become the premier graphics design tool! Not only … Continue reading “Canva comes to iPad”

By realeasing the iPad app, Canva is on it’s way to become the premier graphics design tool! Not only is this tool easy to use and dynamic, it is also FREE! The iPad is free to download and provides access to Canva’s library of millions of stock photographs, illustrations and layouts. Users can upload photos from their device or Facebook account, or pay per premium element when they publish their design.

According to Canva.com the Key Features are:

Design for work, and play. Never worry about dimensions again. Easily design for social media, blog graphics and print.
Perfect for social media. Create social media graphics with ease. Professionally designed layouts that are perfect for Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Design on your iPad or the Web. Create a design on your desktop computer, edit it on the go. Canva goes wherever you do.
Choose from one million images and hundreds of fonts. Design with 1 million photos, graphics and fonts, or upload your own.
Collaborate with anyone, anywhere. Canva lets you share and edit your designs with friends, clients and coworkers.

2013 Year in Review

In a similar fashion to Barbara Walters’ most interesting people of 2013, we’ve decided to compile Saffire’s Extraordinary Events of 2013. We’re all a part of a fast-moving industry, and at the end of the year it seems like we can take a moment to reflect on key happenings in our field. A few of … Continue reading “2013 Year in Review”

George Strait Announces Farewell Tour

George Strait officially said in 2013 that he will hang up his boots after this current tour. The die-hard faithful have flocked to ticket outlets, with tickets being sold and resold at record numbers at venues across the country.

Calgary Stampede Traditions Continue, “Come Hell or High Water”

The Calgary Stampede, faced with crippling floodwaters just 14 days before their opening, were able to not only put together an event that Calgarians won’t soon forget, but also raise over $2 million for flood victims through T-Shirts and donations. You can view a short video documentary of the 2013 Calgary Stampede here.

An Iconic Marathon Struck by a Devastating Finish

For many event organizers, safety plans took on a new meaning after a nation watched stunned while police searched for a brother who set bombs to explode on the finish line at the Boston Marathon. 3 people were killed, and hundreds others wounded in an event that won’t soon be forgotten by America.

Big Tex Makes a Triumphant Return

After the beloved icon of the State Fair of Texas tragically caught on fire in 2012, he was back in all his glory for the 2013 fair. Thousands of donors from the community and beyond contributed to the rebuilding effort. Now Big Tex stands just as tall, and even more stylish than ever in larger than life Wranglers and Luccheses.

100^th Client Joins Saffire

With the addition of Extraco Events Center, Saffire reached a big milestone. We’ve come a long way since our first event client in 2009, and reaching the 100^th client only gets us more excited to be a part of the industry. It may not be world news, but it was an extraordinary event for the Saffire team.

The year 2013 was nothing short of eventful. With so many trials and triumphs, it’s awesome to be a part of an industry that celebrates each other’s victories and lends a helping hand during each other’s hardships. With a year like this, it’s hard to imagine what 2014 will have in store!

Giving Thanks

It’s so easy to get caught up in the rush of the holiday season. Especially this year with Thanksgiving so late in the month, it has almost been overlooked, especially by retail stores, itching to get the most out of holiday budgets. Here at Saffire, we have much to be thankful for, and we couldn’t … Continue reading “Giving Thanks”

Here at Saffire, we have much to be thankful for, and we couldn’t let today pass without expressing our gratitude to those who have been a part of our success. We are proud to officially announce that over 100 events, venues and destinations trust Saffire to support their online presence. We couldn’t be where we are today without each one of you.

We are appreciative of the confidence you put in us as well as the effort that you have given to improve both your website and the Saffire platform. We truly couldn’t do it without you.

We hope you all have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

With our deepest thanks,
Kendra, Aaron, Jeremy & The Saffire Team

What Obamacare Can Remind Us About Websites

As I’ve watched the “fiasco” happen with the Obamacare website over the last few weeks, it has occurred to me that this is a great reminder of two things I already knew. Building websites is really hard. And there are a million potential points of error. But websites are really important. Having built them since … Continue reading “What Obamacare Can Remind Us About Websites”

As I’ve watched the “fiasco” happen with the Obamacare website over the last few weeks, it has occurred to me that this is a great reminder of two things I already knew.

Building websites is really hard. And there are a million potential points of error.

But websites are really important.

Having built them since 1995, you can imagine that I’ve just about seen it all. From the early days, I’ve watched companies have failures over and over again with their websites, their emails and other electronic media. (Just last week, Weight Watchers accidentally deleted a whole day of tracking data from all their customers. Oops!)

How could something like this happen? We have a healthy respect for backups and redundancy, but that doesn’t change the simple fact: it’s hard to develop websites. There is a concept I talk about called SPOF – Single Point of Failure. This means that if one single (even tiny) part of a system fails, the entire system fails.

When an error happens in website development, the culprit is often a Single Point of Failure. Hundreds or thousands of hours are spent developing new functionality for your website. Then you add one tiny thing (usually at the last second), and it breaks the whole system. All those hours are wasted, until it is fixed.

In the case of Obamacare, I understand many of the issues had to do with the number of people visiting the website, often called the “load” of the website. I want to be honest and say that we’ve experienced load issues on websites our team has developed as well (don’t believe anyone who says they haven’t!).

The truth of the matter is it is difficult to test load without actual site visitors. There are computer programs that simulate load, but of course, it’s hard to make a computer do “human” things. You can test loads and try to anticipate, but sometimes the best we can do is to watch it and be ready to turn on a dime if we see load issues.

The second lesson is that websites are important. If you think about how many thousands of hours were spent by people working on Obamacare, and the very last step was putting the information on the website and allowing people to sign up. And that’s where it failed.

It was very much a Single Point of Failure. All those hours were wasted, and the people working on it lost credibility, all because the very last (but incredibly important!) step of the process went awry.

Back in the early days of web, we thought errors were big problems. But online issues have only increased in importance. Now, when something goes wrong it is often mission critical.

My theory is that this is why Software as a Service (sometimes called SaaS), like Saffire and many others, has gained in popularity. It takes some of the risk away because there is already a core platform that is incrementally added to, rather than creating it from scratch. It doesn’t completely eliminate the risk, but it at least mitigates the potential points of error for a very important part of event and venue marketing, the most important virtual front door for an event, their website. And for us, that’s a good thing.